Violent attacks on the Kingdom of God

From the days of John the Baptist until now,
the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence,
and the violent are taking it by force.

Thus says the Lord in today’s Gospel (Matthew 11:11-15).

Scholars disagree on the meaning of this verse. On the one hand, because John the Baptist was a victim of violence, incarcerated at the hands of an oppressive regime (a regime under which Christ and his listeners were also living), the violence to which our Lord refers could be interpreted as the physical violence of persecution and oppression. This interpretation would resonate powerfully with the early Church.

On the other hand, some scholars interpret this “violence” as the fervor of crowds trying to push their way into a place they desperately want to enter (like holiday shoppers trying to push into the last store carrying the “must have” Christmas present of the year).

The latter interpretation reminds us that the Kingdom of God is something extremely desirable, but that it is also something that only comes through the grace of God, not the effort of man (not even the strongest efforts).

This interpretation is supported somewhat by the context of the whole chapter. Prior to this passage, our Lord is challenging the crowds who had flocked to see John, with apparently little understanding or interior conversion (“What did you go out to see?”). Immediately following this passage, our Lord challenges the throngs flocking around him and the places he has visited (“To what shall I compare this generation?”). And at the end of this chapter, our Lord reaffirms that knowledge of God and godly things comes through grace, not the brute intellectual force of man.

I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike.

Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.

All things have been handed over to me by my Father.

No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.

Whether we are suffering the interior violence of our own existential desperation or the violence of persecution (physical or otherwise), may we always depend upon the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and open ourselves more completely to him.

"Come to me,
all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you
and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for your selves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."